Yoga: Gentle Breathing

Marisse Farnos:

Hello, I'm Marisse Farnos. I teach yoga here at M. D. Anderson, and we are going to be doing a very soft meditation or relaxation, and so the first thing you need to know is that you can do it lying down, so you can be doing this lying down on the bed with your eyes closed or you can do it sitting down. You can do it sitting down on the floor.

You can try and sit down with one foot in front of the other, like this. If you are more used to this, you can bring the right foot by the left thigh. Sit like this. You can sit like this or you can sit on a chair. So, the main thing is that you are comfortable.

So then, if you are lying down, just close your eyes and let your arms rest next to you on your side, that's it. Palms facing up very softly. Relax the shoulders, relax the face, the feet, everything. If you are sitting down, you choose, if it's on a chair, on the floor, on the bed, you choose how you want your legs to be arranged. The main thing is that you keep your spine straight. Do not rest against the back of a chair unless you have to. If you get really tired of just sitting like this, just rest on the back, okay. Hands can be by your knees, over your knees, you can choose different mantra, it's up to you.

Okay, so just close your eyes and start noticing your breath, don't change it, just notice how you are breathing. Bring your focus to the tip of your nose and just feel the air going in through your nose and follow its path all the way down to your belly. Inhale and exhale. Try to breathe very slowly and very deeply. On your next inhale, you are going to imagine that you are inhaling white healing energy and you are inhaling white healing energy into your lungs and as you exhale, you are going to exhale smoke. Like the energy is, like this dark gray color. You are going to inhale white healing energy and you are going to exhale this gray energy like smoke and with it it's carrying all the tension, toxins, negativity, anything you want to get rid of. So, keep inhaling white healing energy and slowly exhale the smoke. As you keep this cycle and this we are going to do with all our breath. Imagine when you exhale that the color of the smoke with each exhale is getting lighter until at the end it's also white, clear energy.

So, as you cleanse, your lungs with your breath, the exhale starts getting lighter and lighter and you start seeing more light in your exhales. So now, we are going to focus on our heart. So, you are going to inhale a bright red loving light into the back of your heart and you feel that light cleansing your heart and when you exhale, the light is going to be a very dark, dark red. Inhale a red, very loving healing light into your heart and slowly exhale all the pain, all the negativity, anything you need to let go of in a very dark red color, and as you keep exhaling, that red is going to turn lighter.

As you feel you are bringing in more healing loving light into the heart, the exhale will turn brighter and lighter until it's the same red as you inhaled. Slowly inhale, feel it, energizing, nurturing your heart, cleaning your heart of pain, exhale and let go of any emotions you don't need in your heart anymore. Inhale deeply, exhale slowly until you reach that red and you feel comfortable moving on and letting go.

Now, we are going to inhale this bright yellow light into your spleen, which is on the left side, around your left ribcage. So, imagine you are inhaling this very warm yellow green light from the sun. You can even feel the heat and the energy from the sun going into your spleen, cleansing it, energizing it, and when you exhale, you are going to see this light that's sort of mustard color with all the toxins, all the negativity everything you need to let go. So, you inhale the yellow sunshine warm light and exhale the toxins, negativity, anything you need to let go, and keep the cycle, inhale deeply, exhale deeply. As you keep exhaling that yellow light is going to turn lighter and lighter as you feel this cleansing and as you notice at the end the light is the same bright yellow color as you inhale. So, the inhale and the exhale turn the same color.

Now, we go to the liver on the right side by the lower sort of ribcage on the right. It does not have to be too specific, just have a sense. And now we are going to inhale green light from the earth. So, imagine this green like the grass, like the trees, so you are getting this green earth light full of the nutrients from the earth into your liver. Feel it cleansing it. Now, when you exhale, it is going to be a very dark green like that dark dirty water sometimes you see on that dark green where there is no clarity, but slowly you keep inhaling green healing light with all the earth qualities and as you exhale that dark green will slowly get lighter and lighter until it is the same color as the inhaler. Keep inhaling deeply. Feel the cleansing, exhale slowly. Feel the letting go.

And, now the last one, focus on your kidneys in the back above the waist and imagine this blue light, imagine the ocean with the force of the ocean, the ocean healing qualities and just feel that light coming into your kidneys cleansing and energizing your kidneys and when you exhale, imagine this very dark blue like navy blue light taking away all the toxins, taking away all the stress, taking away all the negativity. Breathe deeply, bring the qualities of the ocean and let it just sweep away with your breath anything your body does not need any more. Breathe deeply, exhale slowly until the blue changes from dark navy blue until the same clear blue of your inhale. Now, slowly feel and see your color, all the colors in your body, go back and see your lungs full of healing white light. Feel your heart full of loving red light. Feel your spleen full of sunshine, warm, yellow light. See, feel your liver full of green earth grass light, and see your kidneys full of blue ocean light and see yourself shining with light. There is all this space and all this light and all these beautiful colors that are healing you, nurturing you, loving you, and taking care of you. Breathe deeply and just enjoy all those colors in your body.

[Pause]

When you are ready to come out, you can stay like this for sometime. When you are ready to finish, just very slowly start screening your body for any physical sensations, just notice how your body feels. Then, notice what is going in through your mind, notice your thoughts, do not attach to them, do not judge them, just let them go like a slide show, or if you are too young and you don't know what that is like clouds passing in the sky. And then feel your heart, notice your emotions at this moment. If there is any negative emotions, just let go off them with your breath, and then from this place of presence of being in the now, create an intention for the rest of your day. This is the end of this session.